Pitt Wrestling HC Discusses Recent Injuries

The Pitt Panthers wrestling team is dealing with injuries ahead of a conference face-off.

Pitt Wrestling Head Coach Keith Gavin, athletic trainer Brian Bonnar and assistant coach Luke Pletcher / Courtesy of Pitt Athletics

PITTSBURGH -- The No. 18 Pitt Panthers have dealt with some recent injuries on the wrestling team, as they head into ACC dual action this weekend.

Pitt wrestled Pitt-Johnstown back on Jan. 3, a 32-8 win, with just one starter participating at their weight in the dual, as the team had some substitutions, but also injuries over the recent Christmas season.

No. 17 graduate student Nick Babin came back for Pitt at 125 pounds, after missing almost a month due to appendicitis. He missed the home dual loss vs. then ranked No. 5 Ohio State on Dec. 13, the Rider Quad Meet on Dec. 20 and the Midlands Championships, Dec. 29-30.

Babin would dominate Pitt-Johnstown redshirt junior Trevon Gray, earning the 12-0 major decision, with two instances of four near fall points.

"It was good," Panthers head coach Keith Gavin said on Babin. "That was his first match back. Wrestled live back on Wednesday and said he wanted to go today. It was good for him to get a match in before we got into ACC stuff. But yeah, he felt good, so it was nice to see."

Redshirt freshman Anthony Santaniello also wrestled up a weight class for the Panthers, going from 141 pounds to 149 pounds, vs. the Mountain Cats. He won a 16-1 techinical fall (6:25) over redshirt sophomore Chad Ozias, putting in a good performance.

The reason he wrestled up a weight class was because redshirt sophomore Finn Solomon suffered an injury in his last match at Midlands and wasn't able to wrestle.

Gavin said that he didn't want to use one of the dates for true freshman Kade Brown against Pitt-Johnstown, as Gavin wants Brown to maintain his redshirt, allowing Anthony Santaniello a chance to wrestle up.

"Finn Solomon’s hurt and we couldn’t, I didn’t want to use one of Kade Brown’s dates," Gavin said. "Anthony weighed in at like, 142, so that he was able to make the 141 next week."

Pitt heads into ACC duals with conference newcomer in No.15 Stanford arrives for their dual at Fitzgerald Field House on Jan. 10. They'll also wrestle rival No. 22 West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl in Morgantown on Jan. 12.

Gavin said that Solomon is questionable for this weekend, but that he should have most of his wrestlers back for those matchups.

"He got hurt at the last match he wrestled in Midlands," Gavin said. "Yeah, we’ll see. I’m hoping to have him back next weekend, we’ll see. He’s questionable, but a lot of our other guys should be back."

The Panthes have two other recent injuries in redshirt sophomore Vinnie Santaniellom who suffered his at the Rider Quad Meet and No. 19 redshirt junior Luca Augustine, who medically forfeited in the semifinals at 174 pounds at Midlands.

Redshirt sophomore Jared Keslar also had a skin infection the day of the Pitt-Johnstown match, which kept him out at 165 pounds, according to Gavin.

Gavin said that Augustine should come back for the Stanford match and that Santaniello, like Solomon, may not wrestle this weekend.

"Luca’s pretty certain he’s gonna be back on Friday." Gavin said. "Finn’s the only real questionable one. Jared Keslar had the skin infection this morning so he couldn’t wrestle. Finn and Vinnie Santaniello are our only serious injuries, maybe, possible."

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